Overhead contactor for electric railways.



R. A. FROMM.

OVERHEAD CONTACTOR FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 15. 1917.

1,287,959. Patented Dec. 17, 1918.

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trolley wheel or other current collecting de- IE3) STAIEsrATENT. canton.

ROBERT A. FROMM. SAN BERNARDTNO, CALIFORNIA.

OVERHEAD CONTACTOR FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT A. FRoMM, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Bernardino, in the county of San Bernardino and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Overhead 1 Oontactors for Electric Railways, of which the followlng 1s a specification.

This invention is an overhead contactor more particularly adapted for use in con- .Another object of the invention is to pro-v vide a contactor capable .of opening and closing a signal circult by the passage of a vice bearing againstthe trolley wire.

A further objectis to provide a contactor with a movable member suspended from a tie bar so that it will move in planes parallel to the bar and to form the ends of the member tqengage, with aspring element to close an electric signaling'circuit.

The invention. broadly stated. comprises a tie bar, a plurality of earsor clips secured to the trolley wire, said tie bar being also secured to said clips and serving as a spacing member, a plurality of resilient members secured to the tie bar and extending downwardly. a movable member suspended from the tie bar and preferably between the resilient elements, which member has its ends so formed as to provide a sliding contact with the resilient elements, the suspension of the movable member being such as to permit the member to move in planes parallel to the tie bar, terminals for said resilient elements, and circuits including a signal connected to said terminals.

One practical form of construction will be described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the switch attached to a trolley wire;

Fig. 2 is asectional view on the line 22 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of the spring elements, a portion of the bar and clip or ear.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 15, 1917.

Patented Dec. 17, 1918.

Serial No. 175,021.

The trolley wire, indicated at 5, may be of the usual form and is preferably of the 8- shapedtype. Connected to the trolley wire 5 are clips or ears, generally indicated at A and B. These clips comprise a body portion 6, to which may be secured a separable portion 7, which separable portion maybe secured to the body portion by means of the screws 8. Projecting upwardly from the body portion are stems 9 and 10. The upper ends of each of these stems are provided with fiat .faces and centrally disposed in these fiat faces are threaded holes.

To cooperate with the threaded holes are I suitably threaded bolts 10 and 11. The tie bar. 12 may be formed of any suitablematerial but it is preferred to have it of mate- I rial that is an insulator for the electric cur- .rent. v

Adjacent the ends of the bar 12. are suitable holes, or passages therethrough,

through which are adaptedto pass the bolts 10 .and 11. Thus the tie bar 12' may. besecured to the clips or ears A and B and firmly held. Th 'etie bar when so held will also act or serve asaspacingvmember for the ,clips or cars.

Disposed at convenient pointsupon the tie bar are resilient elements 1 3 .and 14, As shown. these resilient elements are of the leaf type and are secured at one end upon the upper side of the tie bar 12 by means of the bolts and nuts 15 and 16. These bolts 15 and 16 are adapted to pass through the tie bars 12 so that the ends of the resilient elements 13 and 14 may be firmly se ured.

As shown these resilient elements are provided with a right angled bend forming an L-shapedspri g and the short end thereof is in contact with the upper face of the tie bar. The long end or vertical section of the spring is adapted to pass through a suitab'e slot. As there are two of these resilient elements, two slots 17 and 18 are provided. These slots are so shaped that when the spring is in its normal position the long portion extends downwardlv and lies in contact with a flat surface. The other sides of the slots are formed with curves which are indicated at 19 and 20.

The bolts 15 and 16 may be also employed as terminals to which may be connected circuit wires. one of which is indicated at 21. Disposed between the bolts 15 and 16 are suitable holes, through which may pass bolts g nasaeso indicated at 22 and 23, which bolts serve as pivotal mountings for links indicated at 2%, 25, 26 and 27. These links are preferably disposed upon each side of the tie bar 12, and at their lower ends they are connected to a movable member 28, by means of the be formed in any convenient way, although as shown it is provided with the beveled ends indicated at 31 and 32 so that upon movement of the member 28 it may ride into contact and engage with the resilient elements with as little friction as possible, the links permitting the free suspension of the mov able member 28 below the tie bar and adapting the member to move in either directionupon the movement of the current collecting device bearing against the trolley wire 5.

If desired, the movable member 28 may be formed of wood and sheathed with a conducting material, which material may be nailed or screwed, or secured in any other 5 suitable manner to the member. It may also I adapted to be brought into contact with the be made as a solid conducting bar. The cir cuit wire indicated at 21 may lead to a suitable signal indicated at 83, which signal may be bell or other indicating device.

As will be obvious, .the trolley wheel is movable member 28. The wheel being forced into contact with the trolley wire 5 by means of the spring upon the trolley stem, the

' flanges of the trolley wheel force this movable member to swing so that one of its ends will be brought into contact with one of the resilient elements 13 or 14.

As shown, the signal wire 21 for the circuit may be secured to the resilient element 14. Thus it will be seen that the contacting is operable to close the signal circuit upon movement of the car and its trolley wheel in one direction. I v 1 As shown, the movable member 28 does not engage with the resilient element 13 and 1% but swings freely therebetween. The movable member 28 is positioned just above the trolley wire 5 as shown more particularly in Fig. 1.

Minor changes in the form, proportions,

and details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is 2- An overhead contactor comprising a tie bar supported above a trolley wire, a shoe supported from the tie bar to swing in either direction through contact with the wire engaging element, a resilient element arranged immediately beyond each end of the shoe to be engaged by the shoe in its movement, each element being supported in the tie bar and in openings therein havinga wall next to the shoe at right angles to the bar and the opposing wall downwardly and outwardly divergent relative to the shoe.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

nonnnr A. FROMM.

flopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressin the @oniniissioner of Patents, Washington, LG. 

